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Dance as a Spiritual Practice 

*Maple*

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Essence of this Seed:

*Conscious Dance Offerings
*Dances of Universal Peace events

*Somatic Expression and Healing

*SoulCollage & Conscious Dance Workshops

*Encouragement to Dance with Your Spiritual-self!

~*~

Make It Ready:
Prepare Your Heart and Soul
For Your Higher Purpose

Beloved Community,
Lisa Leela Ball and Rev. Terra Collier-Young
invite you to join us for an evening of
Dance as a Spiritual Practice
with special guest dance leader
Vanessa Hafiza Regan
Sunday, January 4, 2026
at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
6401 Freedom Blvd, Aptos, CA
Doors open at 4pm and the ritual begins at 4:10pm

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This first Sunday of the month offering
invites us into a time of deep spiritual practice
and will include
Dances of Universal Peace, live musicians,
and a poetic invocation for meditation,
followed by an opportunity to
come together in community for dinner at
Zameen Mediterranean Cuisine
7528 Soquel Dr in the Aptos Center

A table will be set up for promotional materials

To RSVP go to https://www.fiveseedsministry.net/contact

Blessed be our time together in sacred space

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Dance offerings around Santa Cruz County:

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Dance Circle 

Sunday mornings

Tannery World Dance Center

1010 River St, studio A

Santa Cruz, CA

9:00-11:30am

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Five Rhythms with Tom Truman

Monday evenings

Tannery World Dance Center

1010 River St, studio A

Santa Cruz, CA

7:00-9:00pm

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Dance Medicine

Tuesday evenings

Tannery World Dance Center

1010 River St, studio A

Santa Cruz, CA

7:00-8:30pm

For an evening of a uniquely themed dance journey

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Soularus: move-connect-express: weekly

is taking a break and will resume in 2026

Wednesday evenings 7-9pm

Saturday  Mornings 10am-12pm

London Nelson Center
301 Center St

Santa Cruz CA​

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Dances of Universal Peace

4th Sunday of the month

Center for Spiritual Living

(the building has been closed for repairs, look at Santa Cruz Sufi Caravan Facebook page for location)

12:30-2:00pm

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For more details and other dance opportunities,

check out Dance as a Spiritual Practice FaceBook group

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​​References and Further Explorations:

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*Northern California Dance Collective
https://www.ncdcdances.org/

 

*Five Rhythms

https://www.5rhythms.com

 

*Daniel Mollner Dance Offerings

www.danielmollner.com/

 

*Soul Motion 

https://soulmotion.com/​

 

*Moveintuit: Liberty Flidais
http://www.moveintuit.com/​

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*OpenFloorDance

https://www.openfloordance.org/

 

* Moth Bangarra Dance Thearte  

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvkUBfIq50I​

 

* Maple Leaf Rag!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fagH03fxY7c

 

​*Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin

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   ~*~     

 I love this quote...
“We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience;

we are spiritual beings having

a physical experience.”

       – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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Consider this:
A world of spiritual beings having a physical experience!​

 

The seed of Dance as a Spiritual Practice invites us to embody our Spiritual-selves as we dance around in these physical bodies. I like to think that we are dancing with the Divine from the inside out!

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On body Image:

    Yet often times people in our culture are uncomfortable in these bodies, their various shapes and sizes, because we compare ourselves to an ideal, like sports athletes or fashion standards that are typically defined by a flawless youthfulness. These ideals can make  people of all genders feel lacking, undesirable, and disparage getting older.

 

It is a dysfunction of our culture that has us doubting our unique beauty and viability based on an unrealistic and unnecessary notion of physical perfection.

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Individually and collectively we can make an intentional effort to shed that harsh judgement. One way to do this is through movement that allows the body to express itself as uniquely authentic as it is.

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Conscious Dance Described:

     One way to describe a conscious dance practice is that a DJ crafts a set of music designed to take the dancers on a musical, physical, and if you are inclined, emotional and spiritual journey. Many dance venues are decorated using cloths, flowers, stones, candles, and other artifacts with ambient care to create a sanctuary space.

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When a dancer allows themself to really get into the music, into the environment, into the altar, into each other and/or into themselves, one can transcend from the mundane into the sacred. The Conscious Dance container strives to be a safe space for such exploration.

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Conscious Dance is a journey where  communication is primarily nonverbal; we communicate beautifully through movement, gesturing, body language, and eye contact. This communication is one of emoting, or sending feelings and sentiments through modalities other than words. It's an opportunity to get out of our mind's chatter and into our more sensitive selves, developing communication skills to an even greater expression!

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This seed invites us to shed cultural judgments, body shaming, and harsh expectations of beauty. Let us step into a loving space, a carefully crafted and held container, where we can learn how our spirits want to be embodied; where we can be our true beautiful selves.

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So...

Move as the Spirit say move!
Move as the Music say move!  

Move as the Body sez move!

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